First Ever Livestream-to-TV Format Pioneered by Viacom Labs, Greenlit
for On-Air Series

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Viacom Labs successfully tested a new television format allowing fans to co-create a show with their own livestreams that are curated in real time into an on-air program. Viacom Labs’ test partner, MTV Australia, has greenlit a show based on this experiment. (Photo: Business Wire)

Viacom Labs successfully tested a new television format allowing fans to co-create a show with their own livestreams that are curated in real time into an on-air program. Viacom Labs’ test partner, MTV Australia, has greenlit a show based on this experiment. (Photo: Business Wire)

Viacom Labs successfully tested a new television format allowing fans to co-create a show with their own livestreams that are curated in real time into an on-air program. Viacom Labs’ test partner, MTV Australia, has greenlit a show based on this experiment. (Photo: Business Wire)

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Viacom (NASDAQ:VIAB, VIA) announced today that Viacom Labs, an incubator
for the future of fan experience and engagement, has pioneered a
breakthrough television format that pulls in livestreams from fans as a
curated real time feed running on-air during a regularly scheduled
television show. MTV Australia, the Labs’ partner in the experiment,
will be the first to produce and launch an original series based on the
test. The as yet untitled show will air on Australia’s 24-hour linear
music channel, MTV Music, and is set to premiere in 2017.

The successful experiment in June 2016, which attracted an audience more
than double MTV Music Australia’s average, involved collaboration from
Viacom teams across three continents – the United States, Europe, and
Australia – where production teams and music fans were invited to
livestream themselves dancing to music videos that aired on MTV Music
Australia during the test.

“Viacom Labs’ mission is to constantly evolve how fans connect to the
content they love and give them opportunities to make it their own,”
said Susan Claxton, co-head of Viacom Labs. “Labs’ global
livestream-to-tv experiment with our amazing colleagues at MTV Australia
demonstrates what’s possible when we work together to leverage the
dynamics of the social web and the massive scale and context of linear
television.”

Fans were empowered to co-create the show simply by using their dance
moves and a device to livestream. The livestreams, which can be pulled
from most livestreaming platforms once fans include the designated
hashtag, were selected in real time by a show producer in a control room
who viewed them on many screens simultaneously. The result was an
unprecedented storytelling format that makes linear television more
kinetic and interactive than ever as viewers saw the fan dancing on the
screen in a box superimposed on the show screen.

“By partnering with Viacom Labs, we are developing a truly innovative
and immersive fan experience never seen on television,” said Simon
Bates, Vice President and Head of MTV Asia Pacific. “Marrying the
technology of livestreaming with a linear broadcast catapults fan
engagement into the 21st century and we’re excited to be the
first market to bring the concept to life.”

The livestream test and resulting Australian series news comes on the
heels of the announcement that Kiel Berry joins Viacom Labs as
Co-Head/SVP, sharing that role with Viacom veteran Susan Claxton,
Co-Head of Viacom Labs/SVP. Prior to joining Viacom, Berry ran Linkin
Park’s Machine Shop Ventures, a VC with stakes in Lyft, Hyperloop One,
and Blue Bottle Coffee, among many others. Berry ran the band’s Machine
Shop Entertainment before that, aligning Linkin Park’s influence and
interest across music, technology, content and design. He also worked at
Creative Artists Agency in their Entertainment Marketing and
International Business Development groups, and began his career working
overseas and stateside as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan after
graduating from University of Pennsylvania.